Jockey Martin Pedroza and valet Max Corrales may face sanctions for fighting in the jockeys’ room at Santa Anita last Friday.

Santa Anita steward Scott Chaney said the California Horse Racing Board has launched an investigation into the incident, which could lead to a formal complaint and a hearing. A fine or suspension may be levied, pending the results of the hearing.

Leading North American trainer H. Graham Motion has joined the Water Hay Oats Alliance (WHOA) as the latest member in a growing list of trainers who support efforts for passage of The Horseracing Integrity Act. To date, 65 trainers are represented on WHOA's roster, including Hall of Famers Roger Attfield, Michael Dickinson, Neil Drysdale, and Jonathan Sheppard, as well as leading international trainers Ian Balding, John Gosden, Alec Head, Criquette Head-Maarek and Gai Waterhouse.

In a statement to WHOA, Motion shared the following:

From what I have seen WHOA is the only group that is making a serious effort to form a national governing body with uniform rules and penalties covering all 38 racing jurisdictions and in sync with international rules of racing (IFHA) bringing transparency and integrity to US racing.

I have held off joining WHOA up until now, but frustration with the lack of a governing body continues to become more apparent as shown by the problems that several horsemen including myself have experienced in the last few years.

There is a lack of understanding as to how complicated the medication rules have become from state to state and there seems to be a desire from the powers that be to trip us up rather than guide us through these issues.

We cannot compare ourselves to other countries when it comes to medication infractions. In the US we are allowed certain medications within a closer time frame to race day and in my mind herein lies the problem.

There is only one solution and that is a governing body with guidelines similar to other countries where common sense and uniform rules are used. Despite the sensitivity of testing, little has changed with regards to the environment in which our samples are handled. This also would be better addressed by a group that would oversee all testing protocols. Without change we will continue to give our industry a black eye.

The Secretariat Team announced today that Charlie Davis, the colorful and engaging exercise rider for 1973 Triple Crown winner Secretariat, has been diagnosed with Stage 3 lung cancer and will immediately begin chemotherapy and radiation treatments to combat it.

“Charlie is in good spirits and ready to take on this challenge,” said Leonard Lusky, spokesman for the Secretariat Team. “His family and friends have rallied around him, and we stand ready to do what we can to help.”

Davis, who turns 78 next month, has regularly made appearances at racing venues, the Secretariat Festival and other events to the delight of generations of fans, always willing to share stories of Big Red and his first-hand experiences as a member of the Meadow Stable Team. Those appearances are a primary source of income for Davis, but due to his illness, he has not been able to travel.

To assist with uncovered medical bills and unforeseen living expenses, his family has launched a fund-raising effort, which already has been seeded long-time pal jockey Ron Turcotte, the family of Penny Chenery, and Secretariat.com along with a few special friends and an associated GoFundMe account.

Fans wishing to offer their support can find more information at gofundme.com/charliedavis1973 https://www.gofundme.com/charliedavis1973. As a token of appreciation, Davis will sign and send an autographed photo of himself aboard Secretariat to each donor. Cards and letters for Davis can be mailed to:

Joseph O'Brien @JosephOBrien2
Hi everyone. I’m after setting up a new page on Facebook to post up news, photos and videos from the yard. If you could give it a “Like” and retweet this to spread the word, that would be greatly appreciated. You can find the page here:http://www.facebook.com/JosephOBrienRacehorseTrainer/ …

Izvestia wrote:I’m trying to read between the lines, and I don’t get what she did. Bribed the officials to tell her who else was entering?

That’s the allegation. If you’re a trainer shopping for a spot, it’s an advantage to know who else is going where lest you get stuck in a spot you don’t like. She’s claiming that the faxes to her, giving the names of the other entrants, were generated by the Racing office to drum up more entries to fill races.

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Gulfstream Park has ruled Marty Wolfson off its property, saying the veteran trainer consistently failed to meet financial obligations and that the care being given his horses was substandard.

Jockey Martin Pedroza was suspended 15 calendar days, and valet Maximo Corrales was fined $500 for an altercation between the two in the jockey's room on Dec. 29, according to two rulings issued by the board of stewards on Friday.

Pedroza, 52, was also fined $500. He is suspended from Tuesday through March 6, a period of seven racing days. During the suspension, Pedroza is not allowed on racetrack property and therefore cannot work horses.

Pedroza was given a more severe penalty after he struck Corrales with his helmet, according to the ruling.

Trainer Linda Rice has been suspended five days and fined for a total of $2,500 by the New York State Gaming Commission (NYSGC) for the circumstances that led to the scratching of Littlefirefighter (Into Mischief) and For Honor (To Honor and Serve) from a $25,000 claiming race at Aqueduct Jan. 27. As first reported by the Daily Racing Form, Rice said she scratched For Honor to avoid a positive drug test after being treated with medication days before, while Littlefirefighter was scratched due to owner Iris Smith’s preference to not run in a claiming race.

The official rulings posted on the NYSGC website stated that Rice’s “failure to tend to business in a proper manner” led to the scratch of For Honor and a $500 fine, while the trainer’s refusal to run Littlefirefighter led to a $2,000 fine and a 10-day suspension. The latter penalty was reduced to five days after Rice waived her right of appeal.

Two sons of Florida-based trainer Carlo Vaccarezza, students at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, were unharmed when a shooter stormed into the high school Thursday and killed 17 people. However, Vaccarezza said it was a tough time for his children, particularly Nick, whose best friend Joaquin Olivier was among those murdered.

Nick is a senior at the school and the other son, Mike, is a freshman. The trainer said Olivier and some other shooting victims were at his house only a few days earlier.

“Nick is having a tough time,” Vaccarezza said. “Some of these kids were at my house only a few days ago. They liked to come over and hang out with Nicholas. This kid who died, he was Venezuelan. His family had immigrated to the U.S. when he was little and he would come to me and tell me it was his dream to be an American citizen. He got his citizenship three days ago.”

Vaccarezza said his oldest son also knew the shooter, Nikolas Cruz, who was in his same senior class before being expelled...

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Nicholas is the racing enthusiast among the two brothers and spends much time at his father’s barn. He says he has made many friends on the backstretch and several reached out to Carlo to offer their sympathies and to see if there were anything they could do to help.

“He is a very well-liked kid around the racetrack,” Vaccarezza said. “Kiaran McLaughlin, Chad Brown, Todd Pletcher, Chuck Simon, they all sent messages. They said that if any way it would help Nick he could come around their barns any time he wanted to say hello. The entire racing community been very supportive.”

While Vaccarezza doesn’t lose sight of the fact hat his family was among the lucky ones, that his children came home from high school alive, he knows it will take a long time to heal.

“It’s a tough road ahead,” he said. “I think my kids are strong but they’re still just kids. You see shootings at Columbine, Sandy Hook, at the school in Kentucky, you feel sorry for the families. But when it happens in your back yard, at your school, to your kids, it’s different. You have no idea how it feels. I am a really strong guy. I was raised on the streets of New York. I can handle a lot of pain and suffering. But I felt so guilty I couldn’t be there to protect them. Of course there’s nothing I could have done, but I still felt so guilty. I couldn’t sleep last night, so I just went to the barn. Go there at three in the morning.”